Former foe forming seamless felt caps



J. L. BRIDGE AXD W'. B. LODGE, 0F VERNOINEVV YORK.

FORMER FOR FORMING SEAMLESS FELT CAPS.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 28,149, dated May 8, 1860.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, J. L. BRIDGE and lV. B. LODGE, both of Vernon, inthe county of Oneida and State of New York, have invented a new anduseful Machine for Forming VVoolen Cap-Bodies lVithout a Seam; and we dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a plan ortop view of our invention. Fig. 2, a side elevation of ditto; Fig. 3, adetached view of the former of ditto, with a cap body thereon bisected.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention has for its object the forming of cap bodies in a singlepiece or without a seam and at one operation.

The invention consists in the employment or use of a fieXible orsectional former so arranged that it may, after the body is formed -onit, be elongated so as to be capable of being withdrawn from within thebody.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and constructourinvention we Vwill proceed to describe it.

A represents a vertical shaft the lower end of which is stepped in ametal bar B, secured to the under side of a table or base C, the shaftA, extending up through the base C, and having a hollow shaft D, fittedloosely on it. To the upper end of the shaft D, there are attached twoparallel curved bars E, the ends of which forln bearings for inclinedcones F. There are four of these cones, one at each end of each bar E,and each pair of cones is connected by gears Gr, at their bases, and thebase of one cone of each pair is provided with a toothed wheel H, whichwheels are connected with a train of gear wheels I, which are operatedby a heel J, on the upper end of shaft A, the wheels I, having theiraxes attached to one of the bars E.

On the lower part of the shaft A, below the hollow shaft D, there isplaced a toothed wheel K, which gears into a corresponding wheel L, theaxis of which is attached to a bar M, underneath the table or base C,said bar being fitted loosely at one end to a vertical rod N, whichforms the axis of a toothed wheel O, that is placed loosely on it, saidwheel O, being above the table or base C, and gearing into the wheel L.The wheel O, performs the function of agear and crank, and it isconnected by a pit-man P, to an arm Q, which is attached to the lowerend of the hollow shaft D.

The position of the cones F, is shown Aclearly in Fig. l, and it will beseenby referring to this ligure, that their` position in connection withtheir conical form will serve as a proper seat or bed for an oblatespheroidal former R, the latter being tted between the cones.

The former R, may be constructed of iddia-rubber, and inflated with airuntil it assumes the desired form, as shown clearly in Figs. l, and 8,or, it may be constructed of wood or other rigid material in sections,in such a way as to be capable of being extended in the direction of itsaxis and transformed from an oblate to a very prolate spheroid. Theformer R, when adjusted to the machine, that is to say, fitted betweenthe cones F, is of the form of an oblate spheroid, and if the former isconstructed of india-rubber it is inflated with air, and the orifice a,closed by a valve, see Fig. 2,`in which the orifice is shown at thecenter of one side of the former.

The operation is as follows. The former R, being adjusted in properposition between the cones F, the shaft A, is rotated by any convenientpower and a rot-ary motion is transmitted from shaft A, to the cones F,through the medium of the gearing I, J, H, Gr, the cones rotating in thedirection indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The cones F, cause theformer R, to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow marked uponit, and in adddition to this movement it has a horizontal oscillating,or vibrating movement given it, through the medium of the gearing L, O,pitman P, and arm Q; the cones F, and bars E, of course having the sameoscillating movement as the latter transfers said movement to the formerR. As the former R, is thus rotated, and oscillated or vibrated, thewool is distributed evenly upon it from a carding machine, and when theformer R, is fully covered with the wool to a requisite thickness, themachine is st-opped, and the former R, removed from'the machine, theformer being then elongated, so that it can be drawn out from within thecap body through a central opening ax, made for the purpose at one sideof the body, see Fig. 3, in which the cap body is designated by o". Thiselongation of the former R, is due to its flexibility or yieldingcapacity. If' the former be constructed of india-rubber, its v(valve isopened and the Wind or air allowed to escape, in order to admit of itsready elongation and Withdrawal from within the body. If of VWood orother rigid material the seetions are jointed to admit of asimilaielongation. The Vibratory movement of the bars E, cones F, andformer R, may be stoppped at any time by throwing the Wheel L, out ofgear With Wheel K.

The cap bodies thus formed require no seam, they may be hardened at onceinto proper state for use. All other modes of forming cap bodies of abell shape, or those which have a top of larger diameter than the W. M.FORBES.

